I was going to bump a thread last used in 2011 but thought better of it.

Tonight marks the first game of Penn State's new D1 Mens hockey team (well, first D1 varsity game since the 1940s). Appears broadcasting on the Penn State Sports Network and gopsusports.com (I assume as subscription required? Guess we'll find out tonight). BTN to televise two games later in the season.

OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN • Sophomore forward Tommy Olczyk was named Penn State's first NCAA Division I captain.• Junior defenseman Nate Jensen and senior forward George Saad will serve as assistant captains.• All captains were chosen through a team vote.

• It will also mark the first varsity men’shockey game since March 3, 1947.On that day, the Nittany Lions fell toGeorgetown, 11-4.• Penn State fielded a varsity hockeyteam for five seasons in the 1940s(1940-44, 1946-47) before the sportwas dropped due to limited facilities.

Last edited by relantel on Fri Oct 12, 2012 6:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I went tonight and I had a blast. Honestly, going in I was hoping PSU would keep it close and would come close to matching AIC's skill. They ended up exceeding my expectations and played really well. A lot of shots and some decent scoring chances. They over matched AIC but just couldn't get it past their goalie, who stood on his head for much of the night. The crowd was great and really into it. I'm looking forward to going again, I can't imagine how awesome that place will be rocking with the new arena. It's gonna be really cool.

I was at the game as well. They really beat up on AIC, but their goalie went crazy last night. From where I was sitting I watched the game winning goal into the net from right behind where the guy shot it. Puck looked like it was going a foot over the net and out of nowhere curved straight down just into the upper right corner. I swear the puck had eyes.

It's going to be a fun season. Can't wait to go to more games, and I definitely can't wait for the Pegula Arena next year.

On a side note, I was sitting right next to AIC's assistant coach's girlfriend. She told me that he said he just wanted to hang with PSU and hope to get some good breaks. Looks like he got what he wanted.

PghSkins wrote:6-3 so far, pretty good. The competition has not been what they'll see in B1G Hockey, but still....

They've played better than their record indicates. You could make an argument that they should be undefeated among D1 competition. In the 2 D1 losses they dominated but faced a hot goalie. In the AIC loss they had over 60 shots and in the Air Force loss the coach had this awesome press conference.

Spoiler:

Their only real bad performance so far has been the loss at Div 3 Buffalo State. They outplayed Air Force both nights (AF made the tournament 5 of the last 6 years) and won a big game in RIT (2010 Frozen Four) in front of 10,000+ rabid RIT fans in their home opener. So far, so good. They've already exceeded my expectations.

Pretty big weekend coming up against Union. It will be interesting to see if they can compete with a team of that high caliber. If they could somehow upset Union (very wishful thinking) you could actually make an early case that they should make the tournament. Right now they are ranked #21 in PWR ahead of teams like Michigan, Ohio State, and Michigan State.

Last edited by Ossa on Wed Nov 14, 2012 9:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.